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Talk:Indian Empire/@comment-27510151-20171008093416
Weapons development: Black project. -------- Unofficially: Operation Dark Sky has been finished, and TestFlights has shown that the new engines and air frame can withstand the enormous pressure and heat out on to it. Project Obsidian and Diamond has there been accepted into military service under the name of "Night Shroud". The Night Shroud is a new hypersonic aircraft. It is driven by a Air turbo ramjet, that can be modified with a scramjet that can give it a top speed of Mach 5-8. This incredible speed is achieved by using 2 very large Air turbo ramjets, or ATR drives. The ramjet is what gives the aircraft its hypersonic speeds of Mach 6, and if a scramjet is installed it can get up to mach 8, but it can't be activated before the normal turbo jet engines has gotten the aircraft up to at least mach 3. Once the aircraft has reached mach 3, It will be able to activate the ramjets and turn off the turbo jets, and begin to accelerate to mach 6, and if a scramjet is installed, then the scramjet can take over at Mach 6 and accelerate the aircraft to mach 8. Hypersonic requirements The reason for the new and maybe strange design of the aircraft is that at hypersonic speeds, traditional aerodynamic design gives way to aero-thermodynamic design. In order for a hypersonic vehicle to remain structurally intact at such high speeds and stresses, the vehicle must produce minimum drag and be free of design features that give rise to concentrations of heat. The aircraft design must be able to spread the heat over the surface of the structure. Thermal management is critical to high-speed aircraft, especially hypersonic vehicles. Skin friction releases heat energy into the aircraft and must be pumped out again if the vehicle is to have any endurance. The only way to do this is to heat the fuel before it enters the engine, and dump the heat through the exhaust. On a hypersonic vehicle, thermal management is very critical, the cooling capacity of the fuel must be used carefully and efficiently or else the range and endurance of the aircraft will be limited by heating rather than the actual fuel tank capacity. So how will an aircraft reach such speeds? Conventional turbojet engines won't be able to handle the incoming airstreams at such speeds, they can barely handle transonic speeds. In the case of hypersonic propulsion, an aero-thermodynamic duct, or ramjet, is the only engine proven to work efficiently at such speeds. Even ramjets have drawbacks though, such as drag created in the process of slowing down and compressing a Mach 6 airstream. To make a ramjet engine efficient is to spread the air over the entire length of the body. In a hypersonic ramjet aircraft, the entire underside of the forward body acts as a ramp that compresses the air, and the entire underside of the tail is an exhaust nozzle. So much air underneath the aircraft serves another purpose, it keeps the plane up. The ramjets need a large inlet area to provide the high thrust needed for Mach 6 cruise. As a result, the engines occupy a large area beneath vehicle and the need to accommodate a large quantity of fuel means that an all-body shape is most feasible. Structurally, the all-body shape is highly efficient. As well as being extremely aerodynamic, the average cross-sectional area being very large provides a great deal of space for load, equipment and fuel. This being inside a structure that is light and compact having a relatively small surface area to generate frictional drag. The Night Shrouds airframe may incorporate stealth technology, but it doesn't really require it should its mission simply involve high altitude reconnaissance. Hypersonic aircraft are much harder to shoot down than a ballistic missile. Although a hypersonic plane isn't very manoeuvrable, its velocity is such that even a small turn puts it miles away from a SAM's projected interception point. Choosing The Right Fuel Choosing the right type of fuel is crucial to the success of The Night Shroud. Because various sections of the craft will reach cruising-speed temperatures ranging from 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit to more than 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit, its fuel must both provide energy for the engines and act as a structural coolant extracting destructive heat from the plane's surface. At hypersonic speeds, even exotic kerosene such as the special high-flashpoint JP-7 fuel used by the SR-71 Blackbird can't absorb enough heat. The plausible solution is cryogenic fuel. The best possibilities are methane and hydrogen. Liquid hydrogen provides more than three times as much energy and absorbs six times more heat per pound than any other fuel. The downfall is its low density, which means larger fuel tanks, a larger airframe and more drag. While liquid hydrogen is the fuel of choice for space launch vehicles that accelerate quickly out of the atmosphere, studies have shown that liquid methane is better for an aircraft cruising at Mach 5 to Mach 7. Methane is widely available, provides more energy than jet fuels, and can absorb five times as much heat as kerosene. Compared with liquid hydrogen, it is three times denser and easier to handle. Up until now only 4 has been build, with 2 used for testing and 2 for special missions. The aircrafts are expected to be used as advanced reconnaissance and precision bombers, with their abilities. The price of these are not even fully known to the high council in the senate, mostly due to the extreme price for just one ATR engine. A fleet of 12 aircraft are planned, so 2 can be used for testing, and 5 aircraft can always be active with 5 in reserve. Only the best pilots in the entire republic will be given the opportunity to be considered for pilots, it is therefore project Horizon was accepted, and it has already provided pilots for the new aircrafts, they are mostly men drawn from the high ranks of the Immortals. Due to safety concerns and the fact that much testing is still needed, the aircraft will not be taken to mach 8 yet, but instead be taken only to mach 7 if it absolutely necessary, and for most of the time just cruise at mach 6.